FALL RIVER — Mayor Will Flanagan is involved in talks between Republic Waste Services — owners of the Fall River Industrial Park landfill — and private land owners for a possible future expansion, he confirmed Friday.

“We have had preliminary talks in order for new land (near the landfill) to acquire,” Flanagan said. “The city is not in the position to purchase land. It would be a private-party sale.”

Republic announced this month it intended to close the landfill in October and open a transfer station. Bruce Stanos, a spokesman for the company, did not return phone calls.

Flanagan spoke with The Herald News two weeks ago about the possible future expansion of the landfill on the condition the information was off the record. The Herald News was investigating reports of contamination at the landfill.

Flanagan made an announcement Friday about his involvement in brokering a land deal for Republic on a radio program.

The two parcels are located at 846 and 960 Airport Road, according to Kenneth Fiola, vice president of the Fall River Office of Economic Development.

They are the plots of land on the south side of the landfill where contamination was discovered.

A site assessment report dated July 2006 to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection from Republic, owned by Browning-Ferris Industries at the time, identifies evidence of solid waste contamination.

The report indicates the dumping was primarily municipal solid waste and construction and debris waste. A test pit revealed, according to the report, that buried waste was from 11 to 20 feet deep and possibly deeper.

Browning-Ferris Industries also contended an aerial view of the landfill they asserted showed the trash was located outside the boundary of the landfill property and was dumped between 1980 to 1985. Browning Ferris took ownership in 1986.

At the time, the landfill was operated by Allen Jarabek.

Flanagan said the preliminary talks “would not bear fruit” until late fall or early winter this year, and the landfill will shut down in October as scheduled.

“The best-case scenario is a future expansion in two to three to five years,” Flanagan said.

Continued operation of the landfill would allow for a savings of $2 million to $5 million annually, he said, and may give some leverage to gain a better financial return on what is currently on the table.

The city now gets about $1.8 million annually in host fees and a discount on tipping fees from Republic.

If the land deal goes through and Republic can get MassDEP approval, it will be just one of a historical list of expansions at the landfill that was initially owned and operated by the city.

In 1995, MassDEP granted permission to expand the landfill once the nearby municipal airport was shut down. Then-Mayor John Mitchell ordered the airport closure the same month, and the landfill expanded a year later.

Page 2 of 2 - Browning-Ferris shut down the landfill after it reached capacity in 2004.

A court ruled in favor of BFI against the city’s attempt to stop MassDEP from allowing a 33-acre expansion at the site.

In 2009, MassDEP approved a 13-acre expansion and, in 2010, a 17-acre expansion.

While the mayor may have aspirations of reopening and expanding the landfill, two city councilors who contacted The Herald News expressed outrage.

“I do not support the landfill,” said Councilor Michael Miozza, who is chairman of the Committee on Health and Environment. “This is a risk to public health, and I’m disappointed the City Council and my committee were not informed.”

He said to reopen the landfill was “just kicking the can fiscally down the road.”

City Councilor Raymond Mitchell called Flanagan’s efforts “crazy.”

“Are we partners in government or are we a secret organization?” Mitchell said. “If he (Flanagan) has plans, I think the City Council and the residents should know.”

In an email, MassDEP Director of Public Affairs Edmund J. Coletta Jr. said his agency has not received a request from Republic seeking to expand their landfill footprint.